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Top 5 Ways to Win your CEO/CTOs Heart

February 13th, 2018

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In today’s always-connected world it’s important to realize that, historically and traditionally, cybersecurity was the responsibility of the IT department. Any time a cyber incident or data breach occurred or security questions arose, these got deferred to IT for the answers.

Failure to translate cyber risk into business risk has left many businesses clueless

But with today’s massive data breaches and very costly cyber-attacks, the responsibility of cybersecurity has moved to executive level in the boardroom, and this is where important cybersecurity discussions are now taking place. However, failure to translate cyber risk into business risk has left many businesses clueless on what to do.

Here are 5 ways to win your CEO/CTO’s heart and reduce the risk on becoming a victim of cyber-crime. Don’t let any aspect of your cybersecurity conversation get lost in translation— this can make all the difference between staying safe and experiencing a cyber catastrophe. You and your CEO/CTO must speak the same language, and find common ground.

1. PASSION FOR METRICS – KNOW AND MEASURE YOUR RISK

Yes, you need to have passion for your work, and more than ever in cybersecurity as you need to constantly measure and reduce your ever-growing cybersecurity threats. When you’re passionate about cybersecurity metrics you’ll quickly learn to measure success and will become more efficient and effective. Having the right metrics to measure your organization’s risk will ensure everyone sleeps better at night. Knowing where all your privileged accounts are secured in your organization, who has access, and when they are being used is a crucial metric to have at hand, and one your CEO/CTO will welcome when needed. Help your CEO/CTO get to know which metrics are critical by gifting them with our Cybersecurity Metrics report.

2. TRUST AND EMPOWER YOUR TEAMS – INVEST IN PEOPLE AS MUCH AS TECHNOLOGY

Absolutely trust, enable and empower your people. In cybersecurity, technology alone cannot be successful without people keeping it on track. You must invest equally in your people as you do in cybersecurity. A strong leadership and team will withstand most cyber-attacks. A CEO/CTO will be only as good as the awesome and skilled people around them, so having trust and an empowered team will quickly win their heart. Get your teams an enterprise privileged account management solution to avoid the Cyber Fatigue and the headaches caused by improperly managing and using passwords. This will help your team be efficient and effective at the important needs of the business.

3. HONESTY – CUT THE BULLS***

A CEO/CTO does not have time for fluff or hiding details. A quick way to a CEO/CTO’s heart is via honesty. Make sure they have the facts and data to make the right decision. If you do not have an answer let them know, and tell them what you are doing to get it. A dashboard that gives the CEO/CTO visibility with quick answers will give them the most important data on how privileged accounts are being used and will win their heart. Make sure they have privileged behavior analytics to keep them honest and in the know.

4. COMMUNICATION – KEEP IT CLEAR, AND FIND COMMON GROUND

Another way to win your CEO/CTO’s heart is through clear and solid communication. Sometimes not being on the same page, or not knowing how to translate cybersecurity risk into one that helps the business is where most people fail. Don’t let poor communication prevent you from being successful. A great way to help your CEO/CTO understand cybersecurity risk is to educate them on what is important and how to make the biggest impact. A good way to find that common ground is to share a great book with your CEO/CTO. We think you’ll find that our free eBook, Cybersecurity for Dummies, is the perfect match!

5. FINALLY…KISS (Keep it simple, stupid)

Cybersecurity is not effective when it’s too complex.It’s important to keep cybersecurity simple to ensure it’s sustainable. It is no longer effective to install complex, time consuming or expensive solutions. Keep your CEO/CTO happy and win their heart by keeping your cybersecurity simple, and attaining value and effective security by choosing solutions that preserve the balance between technology and people.

Joseph Carson

Joseph Carson has over 25 years' experience in enterprise security, is the author of "Privileged Account Management for Dummies" and "Cybersecurity for Dummies", and is a cyber security professional and ethical hacker. Joseph is a cyber security advisor to several governments, critical infrastructure, financial and transportation industries, speaking at conferences globally. Joseph serves as the Chief Security Scientist at Thycotic.